How many HellBender variants are currently in the game? A (7), B (11), C( 9) or D( 5). Well, if you guessed A; you’re wrong. If you guessed B; try again. If you guessed D; you don’t use the hellbenders that often. If you guessed C, you’re right! So let’s discuss the 9 Hellbender variants in Unreal Tournament 2004! So sit back, grab your favorite snack & an RC Cola ( in Flounder’s case, mint flavored Milk) and sit back because this is going to be an in depth and detailed review of each of the 9 hellbender variants.

The original HellBender The original Hellbender has 600 hitpoints and features a rear twin beam turret and passenger skymine shock combo. The driver seat does not have a weapon and the rear wheels do not aid in turning the vehicle. The rear turret does 200dmg upon hit an enemy vehicle with a full charge. The passenger skymine shock combo will do 150 dmg per ignited combo (assuming the core is a direct hit to an enemy vehicle). The damage output on this is the same with the handheld shock rifle. The closer the enemy is to the center of the combo will determine the amount of damage inflicted on the enemy. The highest damage output that I recorded was 150 per shock core.

HellhoundThe Hellhound is very similar to the original HellBender; however, it’s drastically different at the same time. Now, there are two versions of the Hellhound so I will combine the two. At first, I didn’t know two versions of the Hellhound existed so when I shared my data with Turbo K, he said the Hellhound should rear turret should do 300 dmg instead of the 250 which I originally recorded. So we will split the Hellhounds as version A and version B. Both versions of the Hellhound feature a rear twin beam turret and skymine combo which makes it similar to the original HellBender. What makes the Hellhound different from the HellBender is the Hellhounds rear wheels aid in turning the vehicle which allows for sharper and crisp turns. The driver also has a weapon, a Manta plasma shots. A single plasma shot from the driver manta turret will do 30 dmg per shot and the secondary shoots a bunch of manta plasma shots and if all hit, it will inflict 240 dmg. Here are differences between the HellHounds; Version A has 600 hit points and the rear turret does 300 dmg upon hitting an enemy with a full charge. Version B has 700 hit points and the rear turret does 250 dmg upon hitting an enemy with a full charge. Both versions of the HellHound feature a skymine shock combo that will do 150 dmg (the most I recorded) upon a direct hit to an enemy. Both versions are faster than the original HellBender. Version A is on the new Dria and DiamondSword while version B is on Magic Ile, Redplanet & Slated World. I’m unsure what versions are on other maps such as Minus, OmahaBeach, Kakmo and Sryma.

Eons HellBenderThis HellBender has 600 hitpoints and features a rear energy turret and a driver turret that shoots skymine combos. There is a passenger seat but it has no turret. Why? I have no clue. I’m not sure why anyone would design a Bender where there is a passenger seat with no turret. The Eons HellBender is just as fast as the original HellBender although it may be slightly faster, the rear wheels do not aid in turning the vehicle. The rear turret does 200 dmg upon hitting an enemy with a full charge. The driver skymine combo does 150 dmg upon a direct hit to an enemy. There really is not much about this HellBender that makes it worthy to put on a map. I’d much rather have the original Hellbender than the Eons. However, on Gunshop, that particular version can climb walls. The version on Tyrant cannot. Although, it is a bit tricky to climb walls with this Bender, it’s much easier to climb walls with a Mantis or Nebula.

Assault BenderThe Assault Bender is a minigun variant of Hellbender which also features a tank shell. All wheels aid in turning the vehicle. This variant has 600 hitpoints and features a rear minigun turret that does 10 dmg per shot. The driver also has a minigun turret that does 7 dmg per shot. The passenger turret is a tank shell that does 100 dmg per shot. The rear wheels aid in turning the vehicle. There is not much to say about this Bender as it’s not that good. The only version that I know of is the one on Alpine. Go and see for yourself. This Hellbender doesn’t fit the map. It may be decent against stockish vehicles or vehicles with 200 hitpoints or less. Don’t even try to defend a node against a Falcon or Phoenix with the Assault Bender.

Battle BenderThe Battle Bender has 800 hitpoints and is fast but it has to gain speed as it goes which similar to how a Minotaur gains speed as it goes. All wheels aid in turning the vehicle. The Battle Bender features a rear twin beam turret that does 300 dmg upon a direct hit with a full charge. The passenger skymine combo will do 195 dmg upon a direct hit, at least which is what I recorded. The driver has no turret; however, the driver has a paladin shield that protects the front of the Battle Bender. This makes it good for charging into the cores or nodes. The shield isn’t that strong but when activated at the right time, it will provide decent protection for several seconds when charging full speed into a core or node. How long will the shield last? That depends on what is shooting at you. This map is on Turbo K’s version of Denum.

Bio HoundThe Bio Hound is true to its name. It has bio turrets! The Bio Hound has 600 hitpoints and only the front wheels aid in turning the vehicle. This was the hardest variant to record damage for because I kept recording different damage outputs. The Bio Hound rear laser turret shoots green energy turret beams that do 37 damage per shot and the secondary shoots a green bio missile and upon impact, explodes into little bio globs, similar to the secondary on the handheld Bio Rifle. This is the part that gave me trouble when collecting data. I tested this many times and the most damage that I recorded was 372 dmg with the secondary Bio missile. The least amount of damage that I recorded was 261. Upon multiple tests, I mostly recorded between 277 and 313 dmg inflicted on enemy vehicles. It all depends on how many of the Bio globs hit the target upon explosion from the missile impact. The Bio Hound features a passenger skymine combo that shoots green shock combos and the most damage that I recorded was 225. The driver also has a turret that shoots primary Bio globs similar to the handheld bio rifle primary and each glob will do 42 dmg and the secondary shoots many bio globs and the most damage that I recorded was 210. So with all that being said, the damage output of the Bio Hound is unpredictable. I don’t believe this variant has the extra bio damage mod like the handheld bio rifle and the bio tank do when they shoot the Minotaur or the Tiamat; although it probably should. It would make it more effective.

Fire HoundThe Fire Hound, like the Bio Hound, is also true to its name. The Fire Hound has 600 hitpoints and all wheels aid in turning the vehicle. The rear turret primary shoots fire beams that will do 37 dmg upon impact and the secondary shoots a fire blast that will do 150 dmg upon impact. While that doesn’t seem impressive; the highlight of this vehicle is the passenger skymine fire combos. Each fire combo will do 150 dmg per shot and while that is identical to the original Hellbender, the fire cores shoot at a fast rate and upon igniting the cores; they all explode at once which will inflict a high amount of damage. When shooting at least 6 cores and then igniting the fire combos, it will one shot a node. During testing on Scorched, I drove the enemy fire tank out in the open and shot as many fire cores as I could over the fire tank and then I ignited the fire combos (remember, they ignite all at once) and I was able to inflict 1,100 dmg. So the highlight of this Bender is the passenger skymine combo. The driver also has a flamethrower turret but it’s not that great.

King HellHoundThe King Hellhound is a personal favorite of mine and I consider it to be the 2nd best Bender in the game, you’ll understand why. The Hellhound- Whoops! The King HellHound has 600 hitpoints and all wheels aid in turning the vehicle. The driver turret is similar to the handheld flak cannon primary and secondary. The driver primary flak will do 150 dmg (if all Flak shrads hit the enemy) and the secondary flak shell damage inflicted on the enemy will result in how many of the flak shrads hit target upon exploding from the shell upon impact. The most I recorded was 200. The passenger turret is a skymine shock combo and a direct hit with a combo will inflict 225 dmg. The rear turret is the highlight of this vehicle. It shoots energy turret beams similar to the Bio Hound and Fire Hound; only faster. Each beam will do 37 dmg ( as do the Bio & Fire Hound rear turret energy beams) but they shoot at a faster rate so more dmg will be done at a faster rate. The King Hellhound is most definitely true to its name; it can take on even the most powerful and agile fliers. The only downfall of this Bender is in close range with a flyer; it would get destroyed when point blank with a Falcon. However, if you’re in a flyer and a King HellHound is shooting you from afar; you will 9x out of 10 have to bail. While the King HellHound is a powerful flyer; there is another that takes the royal crown. If you see this Bender; turn around and fly the other way.

CerberusThe Cerberus is the ultimate Bender; the best one available. The Cerberus has 600 hitpoints and all wheels aid in turning this vehicle. The driver has two turrets; the primary is a minigun turret that does a whopping 33 dmg per shot, that is more powerful than a badger and when close range with a Badger, the Cerberus has the advantage as this minigun turret is more powerful; although it’s harder to aim. The driver minigun turret is great for shooting tanks and other hellbenders. The driver can also use the fast secondary homing missiles to defend itself against enemy flyers that are coming in behind for an attack run. The driver secondary shoots a fast homing missile that will do 82 dmg upon impact with a flyer. This missile is fast yet it won’t travel far. The passenger seat also has a primary and a secondary turret. The primary turret is a single energy turret beam that will do 16 dmg per shot and the secondary is another homing missile. These missiles are slow but they will travel a great distance and upon impact, they will do 247 dmg. The rear turret is a twin beam that will do 300 dmg per shot will a full charge. When fully manned, the Cerberus is a forced to be reckoned with. The Cerberus is even a threat when manned by a single person as they can shoot missiles to track the enemy while quickly switching to the rear turret and do a half charged twin beam shot to finish them off.

So where do I rank the benders? From best to worst;

CerberusKing HellHoundHellhound, preferably version A but version B will still rank the Hellhound at 3.Battle BenderFire HoundHellBenderEons HellBenderAssault BenderBio Hound

The most commonly-played map the Assault Bender is on is ONS-Omaha-Beach, where I replaced the tank shell that doesn't do damage with a regular skymine side-turret.
The Battle Bender has a slightly different skymine turret that has a larger blast radius, but can only detonate one core per laser shot.

For the ranking list, I'd put the Bio-bender and stock bender at the bottom. The EONS Bender has the ability to bum-rush while stacking skymines and should be placed farther up the list. For camping, the regular Hellhound or King Hellhound are best, while the others are better suited for more offensive strategies.

I went to Lagzilla's server and did testing. For example, I voted in Magic Isle and did testing on the Cerberus. I shot at multiple enemy vehicles with the twin beams; Tiamat, Minotaur, Falcon, Badger. All results equaled to 300 dmg inflicted from a full charge twin beam. I did the same when testing the Cerberus missiles. I shot a missile at the Bio & Fire tanks, Minotaur and Badger. 82 dmg from the driver missile and 247 from the passenger missile. 1400 hitpoints on a bio tank subtract 1153 which is what was left after shooting the tank with a passenger turret missile = 247. I shot a Falcon that has 300 health. 300 subtract 53, which is what was left after firing a passenger seat turret missile, = 247. A badger has 600 health so 600 subtract 353 = 247. There may be an easier way to do it but this made sense to me. And after shooting each vehicle with a missile, I then switched teams and entered the vehicles that I shot to see how much health was left. That is where I got the 1153 left on a Bio Tank, 52 left on a Falcon, 353 left on a badger.

Testing all the skymine combos wasn't easy because damage is done based on how close the combo is to the target upon explosion. I used a Goliath based tank for skymine combo testing. I shot a combo far above the tank and once received Testing Bio Bender it self was a tough task because damage from the rear turret missile will depend on how many of the bio globs land on the vehicle up exploding from bio missile. That is why I had to test the sky mine combos and Bio missiles multiple times in order to come to an accurate number of damage output; or as close as I could. Re-read my review on the Bio Bender, I recorded different damage outputs from the Bio missile upon testing.

I hope this is what you were looking for. I spent nearly 3 weeks collecting data and checked everything twice because I want an accurate number on damage output. Maybe I made mistakes along way; I am human.

HellhoundThe Hellhound is very similar to the original HellBender; however, itís drastically different at the same time. Now, there are two versions of the Hellhound so I will combine the two. At first, I didnít know two versions of the Hellhound existed so when I shared my data with Turbo K, he said the Hellhound should rear turret should do 300 dmg instead of the 250 which I originally recorded. So we will split the Hellhounds as version A and version B. Both versions of the Hellhound feature a rear twin beam turret and skymine combo which makes it similar to the original HellBender. What makes the Hellhound different from the HellBender is the Hellhounds rear wheels aid in turning the vehicle which allows for sharper and crisp turns. The driver also has a weapon, a Manta plasma shots. A single plasma shot from the driver manta turret will do 30 dmg per shot and the secondary shoots a bunch of manta plasma shots and if all hit, it will inflict 240 dmg. Here are differences between the HellHounds; Version A has 600 hit points and the rear turret does 300 dmg upon hitting an enemy with a full charge. Version B has 700 hit points and the rear turret does 250 dmg upon hitting an enemy with a full charge. Both versions of the HellHound feature a skymine shock combo that will do 150 dmg (the most I recorded) upon a direct hit to an enemy. Both versions are faster than the original HellBender. Version A is on the new Dria and DiamondSword while version B is on Magic Ile, Redplanet & Slated World. Iím unsure what versions are on other maps such as Minus, OmahaBeach, Kakmo and Sryma.

My personal favourite. It was an instagib on flyers, and that created much bitching and complaining. I still
fondly remember Loegy and I setting up with one each on Magic Isle (which is the first map they appeared in)
and dominating the skies. It was also made it a ton of fun using the flyers and not getting blasted out of the
sky, [Yoda voice] took piloting skills it did ! [/end Yoda voice]

This initial modification to the HellBender helped spawned the various stronger Raptor variants.

For me, those were the golden years of vehicle modification(s), the early years. I remember many a pow-wow
with Zakk (Gorzakk) discussing how to balance the various vehicles that were starting to appear. Anyway,
I'm waxing melancholy now, again, good write up Term.

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